After you unpack your Wii U today, make sure that you file this one with your payments as well.

That is, should you be planning to play it with the entire family.

In case you didn’t quite get it from the preceding image of hip-hop star 50 Cent, the best thing I can say is that’s exactly what it will cost you to register your kids for Nintendo Network services per user. It’s also a non-refundable payment and eShop gift cards, etc. don’t work for this. You need a credit card to verify that you’re setting up the account for your little Jimmy as a representative adult. You obviously also have to set up parental controls as well, making it very easy to catch him if he tries to do it himself.

This is no joke, either. See the proof for yourself:

You can probably guess that Nintendo still wants to make sure that your kids don’t have the necessary means to go overboard with their Nintendo Network ID in the absence of those notoriously-horrendous friend codes that used to be required for online functionality, so you might say that having to pay another charge – even a nominal one – will ultimately turn out to be the only possible solution to making sure that your kids remain in a more feasible comfort zone for their limited years to date considering the magnitude of the changes being made to Nintendo’s online connectivity rules.

Besides, now that usernames and friend requests are finally part of the Nintendo ecosystem, you might say that putting up with another half dollar or so could be perceived as a necessary consequence of a more open-ended system than Nintendo’s ever had before.

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As an update, I would like to note that Joystiq is reporting on this further by saying that a PIN number within the parental controls system is apparently a possible substitute for this method of confirmation, thanks to official Nintendo explanations thereof being delivered by means of the email confirmation accompanying this charge. Further confirmation of such by GamerTell’s editorial team will be required.